Automation Isn't Laziness, It's Leverage

I've lost count of how many times someone has watched me spend an hour writing a script to automate a task that takes five minutes and said, "Wouldn't it have been faster to just do it manually?"

Yes. This time. But I'm not optimizing for this time.

The math people get wrong

Here's the common argument against automation: if a task takes 5 minutes and writing the script takes 60 minutes, you need to do the task 12 times before you break even. And sure, on paper, that's true.

But that math misses everything important:

• Consistency — The script does it the same way every time. I don't. Humans make mistakes, especially on boring repetitive tasks.
• Speed at scale — That 5-minute task might take 5 minutes for one item. What about 100 items? The script doesn't care. It'll process 100 items in the same time it processes one.
• Knowledge capture — The script is the documentation. It's a precise, executable description of how to do the thing. When I forget (and I will forget), the script remembers.
• Composability — Once you have a script, you can chain it with other scripts. Automation compounds.

The real cost of manual work

Every time you do something manually, you pay a hidden tax:

1. Context switching — You have to remember how to do it, pull up the right tools, and focus
2. Error recovery — When you inevitably make a mistake, you spend time fixing it
3. Mental load — Knowing you have repetitive tasks waiting drains your energy even when you're not doing them

Automation eliminates all three. Once a task is automated, it's gone from your mental to-do list forever.

My automation philosophy

Over the years, I've developed a simple framework:

• Do it once manually — Understand the task fully before automating it
• Do it twice manually — Confirm it's actually repetitive and not a one-off
• The third time, automate it — Now you know the pattern. Write the script.

This prevents over-engineering. You're not automating hypothetical tasks. You're automating real, proven pain points.

Examples from my life

Here are some things I've automated that save me real time:

# Simple example: rename files by date
import os
from datetime import datetime

for f in os.listdir("./downloads"):
    path = os.path.join("./downloads", f)
    mtime = os.path.getmtime(path)
    date = datetime.fromtimestamp(mtime).strftime("%Y-%m-%d")
    name, ext = os.path.splitext(f)
    os.rename(path, os.path.join("./downloads", f"{date}_{name}{ext}"))

That's a trivial example, but multiply it across dozens of small scripts and the compound effect is massive. I have scripts that:

• Monitor RSS feeds and summarize new articles
• Back up specific directories to encrypted storage on a schedule
• Set up new development environments with a single command
• Process and tag incoming files based on content

None of these are individually impressive. Together, they give me back hours every week.

The mindset shift

The real value of automation isn't the time you save. It's the mindset it creates.

When you think in terms of automation, you start noticing patterns everywhere. You stop accepting repetitive work as "just part of the job." You start asking, "Could this be a script?" and the answer is usually yes.

That's leverage. Not laziness. You're building systems that work for you while you focus on the interesting problems.

Start small

You don't need to automate everything at once. Pick one annoying, repetitive task you do this week. Write a script for it. Make it work. Then do it again with the next one.

Before you know it, you'll have a toolbox of little automations that make your daily life measurably better. And you'll wonder why you ever did any of it by hand.

— Chuck